Muscle Building really does come to being both a science and an art. There are definitely correct ways to build muscles and incorrect ways to build muscle, as I am sure many of you that have done any kind of weight lifting already know.

If you are a long term weight lifter, you have also most likely hit that famous plateau phase, where you just can’t seem to build any more additional muscle than you already have, and you can’t get any stronger than you already are. For those of us that this has happened to, we know how frustrating it can be. We spend hours a week in the gym, some of us even hours a day in the gym, and we see very little to no gains in muscle or strength.

There is a reason that people hit these plateau’s, and it’s because they are doing the same thing that they always do. They do pretty much the same thing every time they go into the gym. And I am not talking about just changing up your exercises and the order you do your exercises in, you have to change a lot more than that. Let me explain exactly what I mean here.

Muscles are a very complex part of the body. I would almost be risque enough to say that muscles are smart. Yes, muscles, they are smart! If you go into the gym each and every day and do the same thing they are not going to grow. Just like if you teach a person the same thing over and over again, they are not going to get any smarter!

So what do you have to do? You have to teach those muscle something different. In other words, you have to shock your muscles!

How do you shock your muscles?

You do things that you would not usually do, whether it be exercises, or huge differences in weight or reps.

For example, most weight lifters will go into the gym and do somewhere between 6-12 reps for each set they do. Change it up by severely lightening the weight and doing 100 reps for particular exercises, and do that for a whole week. Or do just 2-4 reps for particular exercises, and do that for the whole week. Because when it comes down to it, you have to change things up, you have to shock your muscles!

Of course there is also the repair process also. This is pretty simple, as you want to make sure you take in protein within an hour after your workout to repair your muscles. When you do any kind of weight lifting, it breaks down your muscles. You need protein to help build those muscles back up bigger and stronger.

So just remember, muscle building is definitely an art and a science that you have to pay attention to. Make sure you shock your muscles, then you repair them by taking in protein within an hour after your workout!